Welcome to my Creative Corner. I am currently a designer on three design teams for Elizabeth Craft Designs. I love to spend my spare time designing cards and especially enjoy creating beautiful flowers out of card stock. I love sharing my work and tutorials with you and really appreciate you taking time to visit my blog. Hope I can inspire you to create something beautiful.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

I have three cards for you today. Do you need quick and easy cards for all occasions? You are going to love the new Heartfelt Creations "Floral Key Collection" that is released today. This collection
contains a neutral color palette with card panels, papers, stamps and
dies that will enable you to create quick cards while achieving the
"wow" factor. The Floral Key Collection is a set of key and lock stamps
and dies with a paper pack that contains a variety of card fronts, 6" x
6" pieces and 12" x 12" layouts with borders and frames. It's a
creative, fun exploration of the vintage spirit. The Floral Key
Collection will unlock your imagination to creating incredibly
beautiful, "fine art" cards. You will want to go over to the Heartfelt Creations Blog to see a lot of gorgeous samples plus read about all the other activities going on for this Black Friday release. Here is the LINK.

All three cards today were created with a card front cut from the Floral Key Design Paper Collection, and embellishments were added to for dimension. On card #1, I used one of the 6x6 card fronts from the design paper. For dimension, I stamped the lock and floral design using one of the stamps from the "Keys and Roses PreCut Set'. The "lock" was cut out of the stamped design, colored, and attached over the same image in the design paper. It was attached with dimensional tape. The dimensional flowers were created with the "Botanical Floral" stamps and dies. I was able to duplicate the same color for the die cut flowers as is in the design paper.

The second card was also created with a 6x6" square from the Design Paper Collection and two different Heartfelt Creations lacy die cuts added. The design on the lower right side of the card was cut out from the design paper and dimensional flowers added. It was attached over the "Decorative Butterfly Corner" die cut. The top corner was pulled down to reveal a portion of the "Decorative Lattice Swirl" die cut.

Card #3

The third card was designed using a 5x7" panel from the design paper. Plum Glitter was added to the flowers. The glitter is not showing up very well in the photo. The sentiment is a square from the Floral Key Collection that was layered on plum, and black card stock. Glitter was added around the edges of the plum card stock. Each layer was attached with dimensional tape. A bow was added to complete the card.

You are going to love all the gorgeous cards you can create with this new collection. Be sure to go over to Heartfelt Creations and see all the other cards posted for a lot of inspiration.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The Heartfelt Creations Alumni Design Team has a great Blog Hop for you this month. There are 16 designers participating, which will give you a lot of inspiration using your Heartfelt Creations stamps, dies and design papers. Would you like to have a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate to Heartfelt Creations? All you have to do is visit each designers Blog Hop post and leave a comment. You have until Friday, November 29th at midnight to leave your comments, then a random drawing will be held from one of the 16 blogs. The winner will be announced at noon, Saturday, November 30th.

I love working with the Heartfelt Creations design paper collections to create beautiful cards. This month I decided to create a Christmas Shadow Box. I used one of the beautiful pages from the "Frosty Blanket Collection" to create this box. The Heartfelt Creations design paper collections always come with 2 sheets, each of 24-double sided, 12x12 papers. For this box I needed two identical sheets of design paper,.

My finished shadow box is 6" square. For the box, cut two pieces of white card stock 6 1/2" x 6". Score down the 6 1/2" side, 1/4" from each end. Next, cut the design paper creating a 6x6" panel -- cut two identical pieces. One will be used inside the box and the other on the top. Next cut 1/4" strips for the sides of the Shadow Box. Adhere the design paper to the "top of the box.

For the inside of the box, attach the other piece of design in the center.

Next you need to cut an opening on the top piece, for a window into the shadow box. I used my paper cutter to cut a 1/2" border along the top and bottom, and a 1" border along the sides.

This is what the top will look like when you cut out the center of the design. Save that piece cut from the center - we'll use it later.

This picture shows the top of the box with the side panels glued on.

Before I attached the two pieces together to create a shadow box, I used the piece of design paper that was cut out from the top to create dimensional elements. I cut out the snow above the door, the wreath, the door knob, sled and the bunny and holly. They were attached over the design inside the box with dimensional tape. In the bottom of the box I attached the sled and bunny with dimensional tape on the top portion of the cut out and added glue at the bottom (so the bottom would blend in with the scene. Glitter was applied to all the snow areas.

I used a piece of clear card stock over the "window". It was attached inside the card with Scor-tape.

Scor-Tape was added down the side panels and the box assembled. On top I added a poinsettia created with the Heartfelt Creations Petite Poinsettia PreCut Set and cut out with the Layered Poinsettia Die. The sentiment is from the Heartfelt Creations "Christmas Sentiment Circles PreCut Set".

It was really hard to get a good picture of this card because of the glare the clear card stock created. I love how this card turned out.

This is a 6"x6" card. I used the Memory Box "Grand Merry Christmas" for the sentiment. I love how this die cuts out the card stock around the "merry" and die cuts out the "Christmas" letters; it is such a cool effect! You can save the "Christmas" letters to use at another time. The piece of white card stock is 5" x 6" (to leave a border. After die cutting the "Merry Christmas", I placed the Sizzix, Brenda Walton Textured Trellis embossing folder on the portion under the die cut and ran it through my Big Shot. I attached a piece of 6"x6" pink glitter paper to the 6"x6" card base, and then attached the sentiment piece over it. To cover up the edge of the embossing, right under the die cut sentiment, I added a piece of the glitter paper. Because the white piece was smaller than the card, it left a pretty glitter border along the bottom.

Hopefully you can see the difference in the plain branch on top and the embossed branch on the bottom. The Pine Needles embossing powder is pretty dark and looks great with red or dark colored poinsettias. I wanted to tone it down a little to be softer with the pink poinsettias.

In this picture, the first branch was just die cut. On the second branch I used "Peeled Paint" Distress embossing powder. The bottle of embossing powder matching the embossed branch is above the branch so you can see the difference in color. You need to cover the branch well with VersaMark Ink then cover with the embossing powder. This Peel Paint branch is not exactly the color is wanted, so I decided to see what a combination of the two embossing powders would look like. On the third, from the left, is a branch embossed with the "Pine Needles" embossing powder. On the branch on the far right, I pressed the branch down in the VersaMark Ink pad making sure ink was covering all the "needles" then sprinkled on a little of the "Pine Needles" embossing powder, shaking off the excess and putting it back in the bottle. Next I poured over a good coat of the "Peeled Paint" embossing powder, pressing it in, then heat set it with the heat gun. The shade of green came out in between the other two colors. It looks perfect with the pink poinsettia. I love the texture the embossing powder gave the pine branches -- because of the texture, the branch looks almost real! I hope you will give this a try because I am sure you will love how it helps to make the pine branch more realistic.

How are you coming along with your Christmas cards? I still have a few more to get done and will be posting some other beautiful poinsettia cards. I have been playing with different colors and love them all!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

I always have so much fun working with my Susan's Garden Flower dies. I have been busy working on some new tutorials for you. If you are like me, you like to be creative and be able to use your flower dies for more than just one flower. Today I thought I would show you how to create two totally different looking flowers using the Susan's Garden Gazania Flower Dies. Would you believe these flowers were created with the same flower die set!

I love the way Susan has designed all the necessary pieces, in each Susan's Garden Flower die set, so you have everything needed to complete your flower. Her dies are so easy to work with and we can not only create the flowers pictured on the package but many other different flower varieties -- sometimes within the same flower die set, or by using pieces from her other flower die sets. I love to experiment and share my ideas with you.

The yellow flower on the left was created using the instructions on the Susan's Garden "Gazania" package. If you go to this link, you can see the steps, Online, that Susan's uses to create the Gazania. I created the burgundy flower on the right with the same dies (except the leaves) and came up with a totally different flower. Below is the tutorial on how I created it.

TUTORIAL FOR A DIFFERENT FLOWER USING SUSAN'S GARDEN GAZANIA DIES

This is a close-up of the finished flower.

I started out by die cutting eight of the flower petals. For shaping, I used the largest loop tool in the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit. This tool kit was designed by Susan, and is like no other tool kit. Everything you need to shape the flower petals, stamens and leaves are in this kit. It is a kit I could never be without when I want to create realistic flowers! When you want the petals on your flower to curl up, place the edge of the loop tool right on the outside edge of the petal and draw in down to the center. The further down to the center you go, the tighter the curl will be on the petal.

Here are the eight petals all shaped and ready to assemble for my flower. On the upper left corner I shaped the petals on that layer by shaping them on the back side - I wanted those petals to bend down (under) on the bottom layer. You can see as you go across, and on the second row, how each set of petals are gradually curled tighter - all these petals were shaped on the top of the petal so they would curl in to create a tight flower.

Starting from the bottom, glue each layer together, alternating the petals so there will be no gaps between them. I use Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue.

As you glue each layer together, press down with the medium stylus to help adhere it - hold for just a few seconds to let it set.

Once all the layers were glued together, the flower will look like this. This could be left like this for a pretty mum type flower, but I went a step further to create a flower with stamens.

To create the stamens, I die cut the stamen pieces in the Gazania die set. There are two sizes to work with. I wanted the center (stamen) to be brown, so I used two shades of brown card stock -- two dark brown and two lighter brown of each size. To get the "frilly" look, I cut each "leg" of the stamen down toward the center 3 times. That makes them very fine but you could cut down just once or twice. I like the look by cutting each one three times to make them very thin.

Once they are all "fringed", press down in the center with the smallest stylus in the Flower Tool Kit to "cup" them.

Alternate the colors and start gluing the larger pieces together. I tried to alternate the "legs" so there were be no gaps. Next you want to glue in the smaller pieces. Press down in the center with the small stylus, on the shaping mat, to get them cupped up.

Pull open the flower and glue in the stamen. Once the stamen has dried, use the stylus to arrange the stamen to give it a full appearance. You might ask why I curled all the petals up so tight in the beginning, it is because you can pull them out and shape them better than if you have to try and get the petals to curl up after you put in the stamen. I'm not sure what kind of flower this is, but it will be beautiful on a place card at Thanksgiving or on a card.

What do you think - do you like it? I hope you will give this a try. It is so much fun to see plain card stock turn into a beautiful flower. There is never a right or wrong when you create flowers because they are all slightly different. I hope some of my tips, along with Susan's instructions, help you create many beautiful flowers. I love to read your comments.

I will be back tomorrow with some new poinsettias I created and show you how I made a die cut pine branch look more realistic. Hope you'll be back.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Don't you love being able to create cards using dies! I think most of us have enjoyed this new trend in card making. Today I have another Christmas card designed by using a variety of dies.

Before I tell you about my card, I wanted to announce that you can save 20% on everything in the Ellen Hutson, LLC "Die Domain Category" November 15th through Sunday, November 17th on IN-STOCK items only. I know a lot of you who follow my blog are collecting the Susan's Garden flower dies by Sizzix, (Sizzix, Susan Tierney-Cockburn Thinlits Dies) so be sure to check these dies out while they are on sale. Once you are ready to checkout, you need to type diedays13 in the promotion code box to receive the 20% discount. All the details are explained in the Ellen Hutson Newsletter. You can sign up to receive Ellen's Newsletter by going to the Ellen Hutson Home Page - you will see a space to add your email address.

For my card today I created a 6"x6" card. For snow in the background I embossed a piece of white card stock with the Sizzix "Dots" embossing folder. The Merry Christmas sentiment is a beautiful die cut by Memory Box called "Merry Christmas Tidings". I placed a piece of white card stock over a piece of red card stock and die cut the two pieces together. Once it was die cut, I did not separate the two colors. I brushed on glue all over the back side of the red die cut, and placed it on the embossed piece I was using for the background. Once it was dry, I picked out all the white die cut pieces from around the sentiment, which created a red background for the white die cut. Because the two pieces were die cut together, the white die cut pretty much embedded into the red, but there were a few places that popped up and needed to have glue added behind it then pressed back down in place. This was a very quick and easy way to get the colored background in this die cut.

On the bottom of the card I and cut four pieces of white card stock to create snow banks. Ranger, Distress Dry Glitter, Clear Rock Candy, glitter was added along the edges of each snow bank. The the trees were die cut using the Impression Obsession "Fir Trees" die. There are two trees on the left and the tallest one is on the right. I cut a small portion off the right side of that larger tree. The deer are also from Impression Obsession.

Be sure to go over to Ellen Hutson, LLC to check out the great sale in her Die Domain Category.

Friday, November 15, 2013

I promised to show you pillow boxes I created with the We R Memory Keepers Pillow Box Punch Board. I am so totally impressed with all 5 of these Punch Boards. I wouldn't say this unless it was true . . . it is super simple to make boxes, bags or envelopes with these fabulous We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards. It really only takes a few minutes to create them. All the boards are in stock and ready to ship out at Ellen Hutson, LLC. You can make many sizes; the Pillow Box on the top is 12" long, in the middle is a 6" and a 5" Pillow box. You can even make one just 4" long, shown on the bottom row. I used a textured, pearl card stock, Christmas card stock, and the white box was created with white card stock, and embossed with an embossing folder, prior to putting it together.

The Flowers on the Christmas boxes were created with The Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies and the flower on the birthday box was made with Susan's Fuchsia dies. These boxes will be perfect for small gifts or treats.

The We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards are not very large, so they are very easy to store. The scoring tool stores in a slot at the bottom of the board. The board pictured is for creating the pillow boxes.

I have now used all the punch boards and posted them on my blog. To see things made with them on my blog, click on this LINK, and scroll through each post. I am very impressed with all of them and sure you will enjoy having them to create envelopes/boxes/ bags in a variety of sizes.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

I am still working on getting all my Christmas cards designed. I love snowmen, so today I used a very cute snowman by My Favorite Things. Both the Snowman and sentiment come on this stamp set. I used the Memory Box "Frosted Christmas Tree" and have a tutorial below on how I created the dimensional snow.

For the background I used the Sizzix, "Dots" embossing folder. The white piece of card stock 5.5" square. I started by stamping the My Favorite Things "Pure Innocensce-Trim the Branches Snowman" using VersaFine Black ink. The Sizzix embossing folder is only 4.5" wide so I had to embossing one side then line it up on the other side and run through a second time. I embossed it so the "heavier" flakes were on top. If you look at the card, you can see there are not as many dots on the bottom portion. The snowman was colored using Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen big brush markers. I sponged on some like blue chalk around the outside of the snowman. The sentiment was stamped on a piece of white card stock and the ends punched with the corner of a square punch. A slightly larger piece of red card stock was cut and punched the same way and layered under the sentiment.

I added the Memory Box "Snowflake Corner" to the upper left corner. A large and small Martha Stewart snowflake punch was used to add silver glitter snowflakes. I used a variety of color of Stickles on the snowman to give him some sparkle.

Place the die, face down, with the die cut next to the Craft Mat. Spread Modeling Paste over the entire die, being sure to get the paste touching the card stock.

Cover the entire surface as shown here.

Next, using the tool you spread the paste with, tap down in the
paste to create "ripples". This will give your snow some texture.

Carefully pull the die off the die cut tree. This is how the "snow" will look. It is very easy to smear the paste, so be very careful about touching it.

With your tree on a clean surface, pour over Rangers Distress Stickles dry glitter, while the paste is "wet". The glitter will stick and give the snow some sparkle. Pick the tree up by the very top and shake off extra glitter. After the paste was completely dry, I added some Diamond Stickles on some of the high points of the snow, for additional sparkle.

I hope you will give this technique a try; it really added a nice texture to the tree.

Monday, November 11, 2013

I love to fill my house with poinsettias during the holidays. Today I challenged myself to create another variety of poinsettia using theSusan's Garden Poinsettia dies. When I did a research on the Internet, I found one called "Pink Vanilla". Isn't it a beautiful color.

Here is the picture I found for Inspiration. I think mine turned out very similar.

I used a vanilla colored card stock ( you can use a very pale yellow) to die cut all the poinsettia pieces. I always die cut eight of each size petal, plus extra large petals for the leaves, for each flower. All the petals were shaped using theSusan's Garden Flower Tool Kit. I used Derwent Inktense Block Set colors to shade the pink on each petal. These are water soluble ink blocks that can be used dry or wet. When wet, they create a translucent ink-like paint that can be worked over when dry. I used a Tim Holtz Water Brush to pick up some of the hot pink ink and brush it on in a random fashion on each petal. It doesn't take very much ink to accomplish this. I love to watercolor using the Derwent Inktense Block Set Colors. After the ink was dry, I sponged on a light coat of the yellow green Susan's Garden Pan Pastel. I used a dry cloth to wipe off any loose Pan Pastel because I only wanted a "hint" of the green on the petal. I followed the directions Susan's gives in her Poinsettia video on how to cut the die cut piece for the stamen. After cutting the stamen, I added Green Viva Paper Pen dots to the tips, then added just a few sprinkles of yellow Flower Soft on the ends. The Flower Soft stuck in the Paper Pen dots. Be sure you don't get too much on because you want to see the green dots with just a little yellow on the tips.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

I love giving you new ideas for the holidays. Today I have a cute little box that was very fun to make and will be great to fill with candy for gifts or for stocking stuffers. This was created with the We R Memory Keepers "Candy Box Punch Board". If you like to create your own envelopes, boxes or gift bags, you are going to love how easy they are to create with the We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards. You will be amazed at how easy and how quick they are to create. So far I have shown you the Envelope Punch Board, the Gift Box, Gift Bag and today the Candy Box. There is one more I will be showing you very soon -- it is the Pillow Box Punch Board.

I used a piece of 12" card stock to make a long box. You need a piece of paper (or card stock) 7" wide and can make the length any where from 4 to 12 inches long, depending on how you want the box. The board is very simple to use and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow. If you are like me, you have lots of design paper or larger pieces of card stock you would like to use up, and this is such a great way to make something useful with it.

I decided to decorate the top of my candy box with a few new items I had fun using, from Memory Box. I stamped the sentiment on a tag then added the little snowmen using the "Mini Snowmen Dies". These are tiny but so cute. I used a very fine marker to draw in the face and scarves then glued on the hat, which I colored with a black marker. The Jingle Bells are very cute. I cut them out of shiny gold card stock and added a die cut bow. Below is a picture of both the "Jolly Jingle Bells" and "Mini Snowmen Dies" I used the Memory Box "Crisp Bows"to tie the Jingle Bells together. These bows are also great for creating little packages with a bow on top. Behind the tag I added two "Impression Obsession Pine Branch" die cuts.

How are you doing getting all your Christmas cards and projects completed? I have a good start, but still have lots to do.

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SELMA STEVENSON

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I am so happy you stopped by to visit my creative corner. I love to share my creations with you and hope they give you some inspiration. I would love for you to take a moment and leave a comment to let me know what you think. If you enjoy my work, I would also like for you to sign up as a Follower. It is fun to see who my followers are. I always look forward to reading your comments. Thanks for stopping by.